Dead Doesn't mean Gone
by SlInKiEs.kIcK.GrAsS
Summary: The past is the past. he is no longer who he used to be. a supposedly dead man's appearance couldnt change that. Right? Warning: Only based on Alex rider for small relatins. Rated T to be safe
1. Chapter 1

When he was eight, Ayden Salverton discovered that his parents did not die in a car wreck. They had been killed by the people they trusted. MI6. They falsely accused his parents of being undercover for LEVRA. So MI6 took matters ino their own hands and poisened Mark and Erin Salverton.  
Once he found out, Ayden did the one thing he shouldn't have. He ran away. LEVRA, being what they were eventually found Ayden and took him back to their headquarters in Russia. After eight years there, Ayden had developed a Russian accent, and a hatred of what they started training him to do and learn at age twelve. Assasinate, hand-to-hand combat, familiarty with weapons, and a minimum of seven languages. Every one of the skills were perfected by the time he reached his sixteenth birthday. But he despised it all. He never wanted to kill people for money. so for the second time in his life, Ayden ran away.  
ELVERTON

The image in the mirror before me seems normal. Light brown shaggy hair, a square jaw, my towering height at 6'1. Yep, completely normal. Except for the eyes. My eyes. They had been hardened by my line of 'work.' Eight long years ago I was an innocent child. Now, I am a wanted killer. It's funny how the world changes like that. It can go from normal to anyting but in a mere matter of seconds.  
No. I will not revisit my past. It is gone. I am a normal, homeless, teenage boy. My name is NOT Ayden Salverton. It is Riley Fulton. I am NOT a runaway assasin. My parents died, and I ran away from foster care. My Russian accent is because I lived there all my life, before getting on a plane to America. My eyes are NOT green they are blue. I am NOT any different than a sixteen year old school boy. My hair is NOT originally dirty blonde, it is brown. But all of those are lies. They are all true. But, only I know that and it's going to stay that way.  
When I ran away from LEVRA, i had to find somewhere with a normal sized population, but that wasn't to important. Elverton was perfect. It was busy from 7:30 in the morning to midnight. Sometimes even later. It's back roads made for excellent cover. Imagine Atlanta, Georgia but smaller. The cities have the same layout, Elverton just lacking the amount in population Atlanta has. I live on the streets. Most of the homeless people are street performers, that's how they earn their money. It's the same with me. I taught myself how to play with fire. I've learned that no matter how mesmerizing, fire is dangerous. And that's the appeal. That's what draws the crowd. So day after day, I 'breathe fire', and juggle torches. By the end of the day I am holding a hat full of money.

"Look." I nudged my good friend, Jake Martin. He looked up in time to see a bunch of high class rich kids.  
"What are they doing here?" I shrugged in response.  
"Looking for trouble." he nodded. Everyone in Elverton knew that the rich snobs stayed on their side of the city, and the less fortunates ruled over downtown.  
"Let's go." Jake stood to walk over to them.  
"Jake, let someone else get them. I don't feel like teaching some snobs a lesson." Jake raised an eyebrow.  
"Okay, fine we'll go see what they want." I stood and we walked straight in front of the snobs, succesfully blocking their path.  
"What are you doing here preppies?" Jake called out.  
"Were on a fieldtrip."he then turned to his group of friends."This is the perfect example of the filthy primate." the group laughed. Jake stepped forward.  
"Hey look Riley, a bunch of snobby brats who probably worry over what type of hair gell they use." I laughed. "I bet they spend all day looking in the mirror to compliment themselves." I shook my head.  
"No Jake, that can't be right!" I smirked." It breaks every time they try." By now some more downtown kids had joined us and they started laughing.  
"You people have no respect for your superiors!" The male that I figured was the leader looked at us disapprovingly.  
"Yeah, maybe we need to work on that." I stepped forward. "Can you tell us when they get here?"  
"You foul little cockroach!" I started laughing. Between laughs Jake managed to get out.  
"That's your insult?" he was trying to catch his breath."No wonder your mommie's worried you'll get hurt in a fight!" the boy saw me laughing with Jake and pointed.  
"What? I'm sure your mom's a slut!" My laughter stopped.  
"That would be very hard, considering she's dead!" without thinking I punched him in the face. he fell to the ground and I kicked him in the side. Suddenly, I felt to pairs of arms restraining me.  
"Let it go Riley. He's not worth it." I nodded and looked down at the whimpering rich boy.  
"You are so lucky I wasn't alone." "Good job John! Why are you such a jerk!" a girl's voice rang out. I looked up to see that amidst the group of boys I had missed the one girl.  
She was georgeous. She had long, pale, curly blonde hair down to her waist, and deep lue eyes. She walked over to me.  
"Sorry about my brother, he's an idiot." I smiled slightly, and held out my hand.  
"It's cool. I'm Riley." she smiled showing a nice set of teeth.  
"Carter." she shook my hand. As soon as she let go i realized she had left a piece of paper in my hand.  
"Carter! Come on!" She rolled her eyes.  
"That's my cue." with a wave she jogged back over to the group. Jake came to stand at my side along with Collin my other good friend.  
"Dang dude! Rich, hot, and nice!" Collin wacked me on the back.  
"I got dibs." he nodded. I opened my hand and looked down at the piece of paper she had given to me. It was a slightly crumpled napkin with carter and the number 701-3126. I smiled and slid the napkin into my pocket.  
"You guys want some ice-cream?" Jake cheered and Collin laughed. The sun was just begining to set as we madeour way to the Logan's Ice-Cream Parlor.


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: If anything reminds you of Alex Rider It's probably from that. so just so you know I don't own Alex Rider. On with the story!

I laughed at Jake's sour expression.  
"Dude, don't get mad, you were the one that dropped your ice-cream!" Collin was having a hard time restraining his laughter at his friend. We continued our walk back to our steet corner and sat down. Most of the kids downtown claim street corners and this one happened to be ours. The difference between Jake, Collin, and I, is that Jake and Collin share an apartment. Undoubtedly, they're cousins who both ran away and met up in Elverton. It seems like all runaways find comfort in this city. I tend to make up excuses not to stay the night at their apartment. If I was ever found by LEVRA staying in their apartment would put them in danger. I couldn't afford to be selfish. "Supposed to rain tonight." Collin spoke with a mouth full of ice-cream. "Your staying at our place." he nodded in my direction.  
"Collin I-"  
"No excuses! My best friend isn't gonna sleep in the rain!" Jake gave his agreement.  
"Why don't you always stay with us?" Jake asked.  
"It's complicated." i looked down at my old black and grey VANS.  
"You know. You've been our best friend since the first day you showed up in Elverton four months ago. When will you start to trust us?" I sighed.  
"My past isn't something I like to talk about. Heck, I try not to THINK about it!" Collin stood.  
"Whatever. Your still staying with us."  
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************

I woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in through a nearby window. Stifling a yawn, I quickly took a shower and got ready for the day.  
Downstairs, I ate a bowl of cereal before leaving Jake and Collin a note saying I'd catch them later. The rain had left puddles in the street, but the sky was a wonderful blue with very few clouds. Soon I had joined the traffic of the main road. It was aleready ten o'clock and by now, everyone was starting their day. Amidst the cargo shorts and denim skirts a man with khaki pants and an unucked button up shirt stood out. His gaze was fixed on a piece of paper and was only broken by him looking up to search for something. I approached the helpless man casually.  
"Need help?" He looked up and I felt as if he was someone I should remember. he nodded and with a laugh stuck out his hand.  
" I'm Eric. Yeah, I coul use some help." I shook his hand.  
" Riley." A flicker of emotion passed through his eyes. Was that? Scrutiny? "What do you need help with?"  
"I'm looking for a boy who has a slight Russian accent." When he said this, I was glad I hide my accent in public.  
"I don't know." I pretended to ponder the description. "Maybe... Actually, I think so." I needed this guy to stick around so I could find out what he was up to. "Thanks for the help." I smiled and nodded.  
"No problem." Eric waved and walked away. I decided he was either from MI6 or LEVRA. Better stay under the radar with him. By this time the man had reached his car and hopped in. I turned and walked away before he could see that I was still standing there watching him. "How the heck did they find me?" I mumbled under my breath. Ever since I ran away I tried my hardest to forget. I wasn't about to have my new life as a normal (well as normal as being homeless can be) teenage boy ruined. Eric's car was driving down the street by now. Okay, obviously I hadn't done a good a job of hiding, but then again this is MI6 and LEVRA were talking about. If anyone knew how hard it was to avoid them it was me.

XxXxXxX LEVRA HEADQUARTERS: RUSSIA

"We are still searching for Ayden Salverton, Miss. Desmona." "Do you have any leads?" the man swallowed nervouosly.  
"Um...No, Miss. Desmona." the foul lady's smile is the subject of brave men's nightmares. Her bright red lipstick stood out against her pale skintone.  
"Shame." The man expected what came next, and with sorrow filled eyes he wished the best for his wife.  
BANG. Another bullseye. "tsk tsk. If only he carried better knews." With a laugh she sat down at her desk to write a 'sorrowfull' letter to the man's wife. Once done, she slid the letter into a box that would be picked up later in the day. It quite amused her to imagine the young woman's horror when she read the letter. But then again, she was a sick, sick, woman. From her office you could see the training grounds of LEVRA. She was a very powerful woman, and she was ready to take Ayden salverton down.  
(THOUGHT ABOUT ENDING IT HERE :-)  
IN ELVERTON (South Carolina):  
"Okay. If they think they can catch me again they've got a problem. I resumed my walk back to the street corner. A middle-aged man dressed in a business suit and talking on the phone dropped a stack of papers. I bent over and began to help him pick them up.

"Your the second man I've seen today that seemed out of place." he chuckled. I held out my hand. "I'm Riley." he shook it and I'm sure I saw a flash of recognition flash across his features.

"Mark." I handed him his papers and he stashed them in his briefcase.

"So what's a dressed up business man like you doing in downtown Elverton?" He smiled.

"I'm here to pick up a letter. For some crazy reason my boss wants it kept private so he sent it to downtown Elverton." I laughed.

"So he sent it to downtown Elverton? Criminal city? Home of the pick-pocket?" I raised an eyebrow. "If there was ever a chance that letter was read it would be here."

"Well, it'll be my bosses loss, not mine. Anyway can you show me where the post office is?"  
"Yeah. There's a shortcut if you wanna get there quicker."

"That would be great." I motioned for him to follow me. I turned onto the half deserted street Mark by my side.

"Seems kind of sketchy doesn't it?" I asked in a joking tone. Suddenly, I had the sense of being watched. I knew that something wasn't right. then I heard it the click of the safety on a gun.

"Get down!" Mark immediately fell to the ground alongside me. I whipped out my black 9mm handgun from it's place behind the wist band of my shorts. Mark raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. I got to my knees and fired on shot. he man fell down a bullet right between the eyes. I waited expecting another shot.

"They really underestimate me. I mean to send just one? Idiots." I placed the gun back where it belongs before standing and offering my hand to help Mark up. Most people wouldn't have been very calm after being shot at but Mark was.

"I take it you were involved with law enforcement?" I questioned.

"How did you know?" I smiled.

"Uh, your not freaking out?" He nodded.

"So, how about that letter?" I nodded and we made our way to the post office.

XxXxX

"So what's your family like?" I glanced at Mark.

"They died when I was four."

"Sorry." he paused. "Then where do you stay?"

"I'm in the 40% of people that live on the streets." I nodded to my street corner. "This is where I leave you. If you ever need m you'll find me over there." I turned to walk away.

"Riley!" I turned back around. "If you want you can stay with me." He looked down.

"I don't think that's a good Idea, you saw what happened today. Plus, you just met me." He smiled.

"I work with law enforcement remember? I have permission to carry a gun." I smiled.

"Where do you live?"

"Just outside of downtown."

"Don't you know the rules?" Mark looked confused.

"What rules?"

"Rich people stay uptown. People like me stay downtown." I laughed without humor. "Once I leave downtown I'm in their territory. They're allowed to beat me up and my friends can't help." Mark frowned.

"You make it sound like gang wars." Mark pulled the keys to his car out of his pocket.

"In a way it kinda is." i answered.

"Come on." He nodded in the direction of his black Mercedees-Benz.

"Okay. I'll go." I smiled and hopped into the passenger seat. Soon we had passed the 'boundary line.'

"I am so in over my head."


End file.
